Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the
week of Wednesday, 12 July 2017
https://handiham.org/drupal2/node/489
Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the
week of Wednesday, 12 July 2017
This is a free weekly news & information update from the Courage Kenny Handiham
Program, serving people with disabilities in Amateur Radio since 1967.
Our contact information is at the end.
Subscribe or change your subscription to the E-mail version here:
//www.freelists.org/list/handiham-world
________________________________________
Welcome to Handiham World.
In this edition:
. A note from the coordinator
. A message from Brian LeLoup
. My humble QTH
. Down memory lane.
. Check into our nets!
. ...And more!
________________________________________
A note from the coordinator.
On Monday, I had a delightful conversation with Linda, N7HVF, the current
Handiham Radio Club president. As the Vice President of the Handiham Radio
Club, she became President after I stepped down to take the Handiham Program
Coordinator position. Linda and I started going through some of the archives
stored here at the Handiham Program office. As we celebrate 50 years of the
Handiham Program, I will be pulling some of the old articles and stories to
include in the e-letter.
In the summer of 1979, Handiham World was launched with the following article:
You are reading your first newsletter of 1979, the first with a new format. We
have named it Handi-Ham World, a phrase intended to reflect the expansion and
unique character of the organization it represents. It replaces our previous
newsletter, With The Handi-Hams, and we hope the new issue will prove
interesting, informative, and fraternal.
Handi-Ham World will be coming to you four times a year.
We will try to assemble an editorial mixture including amateur radio news,
features of our members, announcements, and technical information-all with the
central purpose of fostering a fraternal bond among all of you, regardless of
how far-flung you are from one another and from us here at HQ.
This is your newsletter. The more you send us about who you are, what you are
doing, and what you want to know (plus good black and white photos whenever
possible), the better Handi-Ham World will be and the more you will know about
one another as Handi-Ham members.
Send us a letter telling us if we are on track or not. Be sure to include
suggestions for improvement. Finally, if you have any information you think
could appear on these pages, you may be right. We'd love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Dick Eichhorn, KB0AE
The announcement above is very fitting for today's newsletter. Once again, I
am asking for your help, just as Dick did in 1979, with articles, reviews, and
news related to amateur radio and assistive technology. Perhaps you have an
anecdote to share about something meaningful, interesting, or funny that
happened with the Handiham Program in the past. Please feel free to share your
articles and stories via email at Lucinda.Moody@xxxxxxxxxx or by calling me at
612-775-2290
________________________________________
A note from Brian LeLoup.
Members of the Handiham Program,
I wanted to send out a quick note to both introduce myself and to thank you for
your patience as Courage Kenny has worked through the process of establishing
the future of the Handiham Program.
First off, my name is Brian LeLoup, and I am the Director of Sub Acute
Rehabilitation for the Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute. It is my
distinct pleasure to serve the Handiham Program at the Director level. I,
along with the Handiham team of Lucinda Moody, Nancy Meydell, and Matt White,
office out of Courage Kenny's Golden Valley, MN site, one of a few historical
"homes" for the Handiham Program. I acknowledge and appreciate the truly
international nature of the Handiham Program, however, if anyone is ever in the
area, we would love to have you see the place.
More importantly, I would like to thank you all, the members, for your
continued support of Courage Kenny's Handiham Program. I realize that over the
last few years the status and future of this Program has been in flux and that
only through the strength and passion of the members, dedication of Nancy
Meydell, and Courage Kenny's Recreation Department of Nancy Huizenga and Eric
Larson have we "kept the lights on" during this time. Again, I thank you for
your patience during this protracted period.
That stated, I am very excited to reiterate both Courage Kenny's and Allina
Health's commitment to the Handiham Program. With the bringing on of Lucinda
Moody, the restructuring of the Program under the Supervision of Matt White,
and the continued support of Courage Kenny's Foundation, I am confident in the
long term future of this long standing and excellent Program. Most
importantly, I am grateful for the continued support of our members. Thank you
for your continued involvement! I look forward to the continued growth of the
Handiham Program.
Sincerely,
Brian
Brian LeLoup, PT, NCS
Director of Sub-Acute Rehabilitation Services . Courage Kenny Rehabilitation
Institute . Golden Valley, part of Allina Health
________________________________________
Welcome once again to my humble QTH:
Well, with Field Day over, except for calculating the scores and sending them
in, we can turn to other amateur related activities in the "KING" of hobbies.
There are so many activities one can do with Amateur Radio. Something for
everyone. For those that like Field Day there are various contests throughout
the year to take part in.
And, the summer festivals provide opportunities to help with parades. Setting
up stations at county fairs is another area where hams are needed. In
Minnesota, we have the Twin City Marathon in which Amateurs help the medical
teams keep track of runners that need medical attention. Of course, we can't
leave out SKYWARN to warn people of tornados & dangerous straight line winds.
For some, building and getting equipment on the air is a challenge, and, once
accomplished, they start over with a new project. And that leads us to those
that experiment and devise something new. Many years ago, everything was
amplitude modulation, but people were experimenting with that crazy stuff
called single side band, which is common place today. About the same time, Ham
repeaters had auto patches. A licensed ham could bring up an auto patch and
make a phone call long before the invention of the cell phone.
Nets, of which there are many on HF and VHF/UHF, include trading nets to buy or
sell equipment, emergency training nets, and social nets. The Handiham Club
sponsors the Handiham Net every day, using EchoLink connected with local
VHF/UHF repeaters, and takes check-ins from around the world.
I know one group of hams that builds larger (6 foot wing span) radio controlled
model airplanes. The planes have a camera where a pilot would sit. They use
them to look for lost people in areas that are difficult to cover otherwise.
Yes! Drones were developed and used by hams long before they became commercial
and everyone could purchase one.
Back, what seems 1,000 years ago to me, when I was in high school, I used to
play chess every Saturday morning from Minneapolis with someone in Rochester,
Minnesota on 40 meter CW.
Oh, yes! Direction finding is a ham radio sport but also comes in handy to find
someone with a stuck microphone button or an interfering signal coming from
somewhere like a power line, garage door opener, etc.
People have operated while piloting an airplane or driving a boat (I did a
Field Day from a sailboat one year), and also while bike or motorcycle riding.
Whew! We've mentioned quite a few ways amateur radio is used and perhaps we
should leave some for another time but I want to leave you with this:
Because of the radio amateurs' communications during hurricane Katrina and 911,
President Bush signed a bill into law making "ALL" amateur radio operators
(regardless of class) part of Homeland Security.
Because when all else fails, amateur radio gets the communications through.
73 es DX de K0HLA Avery
________________________________________
Down memory lane.
In honor of the celebration of 50 years of the Handiham Program, Linda N7HVF
gave us permission to reprint an article from her past.
Handi-Hams Headline Hamfest '94
With another record-breaking Hamfest in the making, the Baton Rouge Amateur
Radio Club is proud to welcome Sister Alverna O'Laughlin, WA0SGJ, and Linda
Reeder, N7HVF, as special guests for Hamfest '94. Representing the Courage
Handi-Hams System, Ms. Reeder and Sister Alverna will lead a 9:30 a.m. Saturday
ham forum.
Again headquartered at the spacious Great Hall of the Bellemont Hotel and
Convention Center, the BRARC Hamfest '94 will offer over 20,000 square feet of
ham activity area with ample space for vendors, swap-tables, and parking, all
conveniently related. The Bellemont is located four miles north of I-12 (Exit
2B) on Airline Highway, (U.S. 61).
Sister Alverna O'Laughlin, WA0SGJ, became a Franciscan sister at Rochester,
Minnesota in 1950, and has served as a nurse at several Institutions operated
by the sisters. In 1964, she coordinated an activities program at Assisi
Heights. While she was Director of Activities, one of the sisters, who was
attending amateur radio classes, asked Sister Alverna to attend radio classes
with her. Sure that she would have no interest in the meeting, Sister Alverna
took along a book to read. The sound of the code was hard to ignore, and soon
she was joining in the class and learning code..just for fun, of course.
Ned Carmen, W0ZSW, recognized that Sister Alverna, with her background in
rehabilitation, would be just the person to help form a group dedicated to
teaching amateur radio to people who had physical disabilities.
In 1972, the responsibility for running the group fell on Sister's shoulders.
Growing too large to handle on a volunteer basis alone, Handi-Hams became a
Courage Center program. In 1973, Sister Alverna left Assisi Heights to become
a chaplain at Methodist Hospital in the Twin Cities. Living only a few blocks
from Courage Center, she kept up with the happenings at Handi-Hams.
Sister Alverna has been very active on the nets, including IMRA, Piconet, and
County Hunters. She is proud of an award showing she has worked all 3,076
counties in the USA. In 1973, she received the Handi-Ham Founders Day Award
and in 1988, received the ARRL International Humanitarian Award.
In 1981, Burce Humphrys, K0HR, the new director of the Handi-Ham program asked
her to join the Handi-Ham System. She has worked there since.
The Courage Handi-Hams System has played an important role in the life of Linda
Reeder, N7HVF. She first learned of the program in 1986, after obtaining a
Technician class license. Although totally blind, Linda wanted to learn the
code, and a friend put her in touch with Handi-Hams.
Sister Alverna encouraged Linda to attend one of the Handi-Ham Radio Camps, but
"they all seemed a long way off."
In 1987, while on a church river trip, Linda suffered an aneurysm due to a
ruptured blood vessel in the brain. She nearly died. When she recovered, she
had to learn code all over again. She was discouraged, but having bought a new
transceiver before her disaster, she wanted to upgrade. Again, Sister Alverna
reminded her about the camp, and with additional encouragement from her
parents, she went and came home with a General Class license. Two weeks later,
she got her Advanced. Linda is now an Extra Class ham.
Linda is active on the HF bands and on the 146.62 repeater in Salt Lake City.
She works as a switchboard operator for the county health department and has
participated in many radio-related public service activities, including
participation on the American Council for the Blind and the Kadiddlehopper
Nets.
Since that first radio camp, Linda has attended many other camps, at her own
expense, in order to help other new hams study for their licenses.
As an aid and inspiration to others through her work with Handi-Hams and other
programs, N7HVF has earned her special phonetics: "High Voltage Female".
________________________________________
What are you waiting for? Check into our Handiham nets... Everyone is welcome!
How to find the Handiham Net:
The Handiham EchoLink conference is 494492. Connect via your iPhone, Android
phone, PC, or on a connected simplex node or repeater system in your area.
The Handiham Net will be on the air daily. If there is no net control station
on any scheduled net day, we will have a roundtable on the air get-together.
Our daily Echolink net continues to operate for anyone and everyone who wishes
to participate at 11:00 hours CST (Noon Eastern and 09:00 Pacific), as well as
Wednesday evenings at 19:00 hours CST (7 PM). If you calculate GMT, the time
difference is that GMT is five hours ahead of Minnesota time during the summer.
________________________________________
Membership
. You can pay your Handiham dues and certain other program fees on line. Simply
follow the membership link on our website to our secure payment site, then
enter your information and submit the payment. It's easy and secure!
Handiham annual membership dues are $12.00.
If you want to donate to the Handiham Program, please use our donation
website. The instructions are at the following link:
http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/8
How to contact us
There are several ways to contact us.
Postal Mail:
Courage Kenny Handiham Program
3915 Golden Valley Road
Mail Route 78446
Golden Valley, MN 55422
E-Mail: Nancy.Meydell@xxxxxxxxxx
Preferred telephone: 1-612-775-2291
Toll-Free telephone: 1-866-HANDIHAM (1-866-426-3442)
Note: Mondays through Thursdays between 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM United States
Central Time are the best times to contact us.
You may also call the Handiham Program Coordinator, Lucinda Moody, AB8WF at:
612-775-2290.
73, and I hope to hear you on the air soon!
For Handiham World, this is Lucinda Moody, AB8WF
The weekly e-letter is a compilation of software tips, operating information,
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